Road Safety
CONCEPT MOULDINGS LTD
A front runner in road safety
How concept moulding’s easy-to-fit pedestrian protection system will save children’s lives and reduce serious injuries
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Areport by the Department for Transport confirmed that 141 children were killed on Britain’s roads in 2005 and many more were seriously injured. Now drivers have the chance to help reduce this alarming number by fitting a Frontal Protection System (FPS) called the Endura FPS to their vehicles. Tests carried out to meet the latest European legislation have demonstrated that this product will make many large vehicles up to 50 times safer for the victim in the unfortunate event of a front-end collision with a pedestrian or cyclist.
An energy-absorbing FPS works in harmony with the base vehicle, absorbing massive amounts of energy to significantly cushion impacts with pedestrians and cyclists. Children and other vulnerable road users are protected from the would-be devastating hard parts at the front of vehicles, such as the bonnet edge, radiator and engine. When a vehicle hits a child even at low speed, an FPS can be the difference between life or death. The first UK pedestrian to be killed by a motor vehicle was in 1896 and she died after suffering severe head injuries. Some 11 0 years later, figures from the UK’s Transport Research Laboratory (TRL) highlight a growing concern for pedestrians and cyclists throughout Europe, with more than 900 UK and 12 ,000 European pedestrians and cyclists killed every year, and more than 9,000 and 290,000 respectively seriously injured.
The diagram below illustrates the types of injury incurred by pedestrians as an overall percentage. Statistics show that 80% of all head injuries are serious or fatal. Children, due to their lower height, typically incur head injuries from the front of vehicles – and these often prove to be fatal.
Testing
Following benchmark testing on large 4x4 vehicles, Sports Utility Vehicles (SUVs) and vans, the Endura FPS has now been tested on the Toyota RAV 4 and Mitsubishi shogun. The results confirm the benefits for pedestrian safety.
The testing carried out at MIRA, a world-leading vehicle testing facility, has proved the risk of pedestrian head injury is dramatically reduced from 98% to 2% when the Toyota RAV 4 is fitted with the Endura FPS. The risk of injury to the abdomen, upper leg and lower leg is also reduced,with a substantial 79% improvement to the pelvis and abdominal area.
Similar to the Toyota RAV 4 results, the Mitsubishi shogun demonstrated encouraging results for vulnerable road users. The Mitsubishi shogun FPS reduces the risk of head injury from over 97% in the worst case down to less than 1%, and like the above, the risk of injury to the pelvis and abdomen, upper leg and lower leg is substantially reduced.
99 per cent of all serious and fatal injuries are caused from injury to the head and abdomen (including pelvis) regions and less than 1 per cent of serious or fatal injuries are caused in the knee area, causing either permanent disability or amputation. The Endura range of products have been specifically manufactured and focused upon these regions to ensure maximum protection for the vulnerable road user. |
The Toyota RAV 4 and Mitsubishi shogun were the first of many vehicles to be tested. Further FPS products have been tested and are now available for small, medium and large vehicles. Popular brands such as the Ford Ranger, Nissan Navara and Land Rover Freelander have aftermarket products approved for sale under the Endura banner.
Similar results were achieved when the Endura FPS was fitted to vans. As changing online shopping habits lead to more such vehicles delivering in residential areas, the risk to pedestrians, and children in particular, is increasing. According to UK Road Safety, statistics highlight some 65% of road traffic accidents involve a vehicle driven on company business.
AA Business Services suggest that van drivers represent one sixth of the UK’s driving population, yet statistically they account for 25% of road fatalities each year. The result is many children being seriously injured or killed by large vehicles in builtup areas.
Legislation
Following dramatic improvements for car occupant safety, European legislators are now making vehicles and accessories safer for pedestrians. From May this year, new pedestrian safety legislation means that old style, non compliant metal bull bars are illegal. Concept Mouldings is the only UK manufacturer known to have developed a non-rigid FPS that complies with all the requirements of the EU Legislation, anticipating future pedestrian safety legislation on both Frontal Protection Systems (bull bars) and the vehicles themselves.
“The legislation is a great breakthrough because it brings forward the fitment of energy-absorbing FPSs as it will be many years before vehicles which meet these demanding tests are available,” says Ian Finney, Managing Director of Concept Mouldings, manufacturer of Endura. “One of the great advantages of our Endura brand products is that they are available for drivers to purchase now for most common SUV’s, 4x4’s and vans, which means we can start saving lives and serious injuries now rather than waiting for a long-term legislative development process.”
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Additional benefits
The fitting of an FPS of this type, while making the vehicles safer for vulnerable road users, also offers a range of additional benefits, including a reduction of vehicle to vehicle damage in minor-impact situations on the front of vehicles as well as reducing insurance claims, according to the Motor Insurance Repair Research Centre (Thatcham).
“Thatcham is funded by UK insurers to help contain and reduce the cost of motor insurance claims. Traditionally this has been mainly focused on material damage, the actual cost of repairing the vehicle after an accident. Thatcham’s research has recently turned to reducing the likelihood of personal injuries, all for the benefit of the motorist. Therefore any improvement to vehicle design would be of interest to insurers,” says Lesley Upham, Director of Communications, Thatcham.
Endorsement
Concept Mouldings has received the endorsement of several major automotive lobbying bodies for all its hard work in pedestrian and cyclist safety initiatives, in particular, the FIA (Federation Internationale de l’Automobile), the RAC Foundation and Thatcham.
“As a member of EuroNCAP, Thatcham is a very strong supporter of pedestrian safety initiatives,” says Andrew Miller, Director of Research at Thatcham. “This innovative development provides a significant improvement in the pedestrian performance of FPSs and Thatcham applauds Concept Mouldings for its work in improving pedestrian safety in this area” “The results of the MIRA tests make impressive reading and safety is an important factor for those who choose SUVs as family transport,” says Kevin Delaney, Head of Traffic and Road Safety Policy, RAC Foundation. “Many will be concerned that post–crash levels of protection for occupants are not matched by those for pedestrians.
The MIRA test results clearly show that it is possible to produce and fit protection systems that significantly reduce the level of injury likely to be sustained by pedestrians and the RAC foundation for Motoring welcomes this development,” Frank van West, Technical Director, FIA Foundation, says: “The Concept Mouldings FPS has shown very good performance in MIRA tests and meets the requirements of the European Directive 2005/66/EC which was effective from May 2007. Because of the good energy absorption capacity the FPS will definitely reduce the number of fatalities and serious injuries in the case of (unfair) collisions with vulnerable road users.
“The FIA Foundation welcomes this development which will reduce human tragedy and contribute to the target of the European Commission to reduce road traffic fatalities in the EU by 50% in 2010 compared to 2000”
To learn more about Frontal Protection
Systems, please visit:
Websites:
www.endura-fps.com
www.conceptmouldings.co.uk
www.frontalprotectionsystems.eu
To purchase an Endura Frontal
Protection System for your
vehicle, please visit:
Website www.endura-fps.com
For any other enquiries, please
contact Concept Mouldings
on:
Tel: 01902 450902 or write to:
63 Major Street,
Wolverhampton
West Midlands
WV2 2HX
